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It was with interest therefore that I see a DVD pirate has been jailed for 15 months after being found guilty of selling fake discs in a South Auckland market.

Personally, I have absolutely no problem with this sentence, even though I suspect there are some who will think it a bit stiff for simply ripping a few DVDs and flogging them to those looking for a bargain.

While the unauthorised sale of copyrighted material isn't theft, it is fraud and should be punished accordingly.

But is there really any difference between someone flogging fake discs to a crowd of willing buyers, and those buyers ripping their own discs?

And interesting question.

On the one hand it could be argued that there's no difference because in both cases the legitimate copyright owner is deprived of revenues that they would otherwise have received from the person who ends up with the pirated copy.

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On the other hand, there are those who would argue that some people might copy a DVD that they'd never otherwise buy and therefore the copyright owner isn't losing a penny.

It's probably a moot point but I think there's a huge difference between someone copying for personal use and someone who copies for resale. Not that I'm suggesting that copying a mate's CD or DVD for your own use is something we ought to legalise.

Here in NZ, neither form of piracy is legal, and that's probably a good thing.

As soon as our own copyright laws catch up with the concept of format-shifting and "fair use" copying of material that has already been purchased by the copier then we'll have a pretty good suite of laws that apply rights and responsibilities very fairly.

In the USA (land of the free and home of the brave) however, things are a real mess right now, with worse to come.

Changes to the already dreadful US copyright laws are about to be pushed through the legislature to make things even more biased in favour of those with the money and the political muscle.

If the proposed changes are to be interpreted literally, it may become an offense to ship VCRs that contain a fast-forward button and the very useful "skip xxx seconds" feature of most PVRs will also be deemed illegal.

Yes, in their movie-industry-funded lust to erode the public's rights, the US lawmakers are planning to make it illegal to skip past the ads in any copyrighted work or broadcast.

How crazy is that?

Of course it's totally unenforceable -- and any law that has no hope of being enforced is an ass. What's more, laws that are an ass breed contempt and that weakens the entire fabric of society.

Will Bush and his cronies recruit a new force of copyright-enforcers to ensure compliance with this new law? Will one of these jackbooted stormtroopers be placed in every home and business to ensure that nobody touches that fast-forward button during the replaying of recorded advertising and that nobody takes a potty-break when the ads come on during live TV broadcasts?

Heaven save us from idiot politicians and their graft-driven laws!

At least (as far as copyright laws go), our own politicians seem to be working in the best interests of all parties, not just in the best interests of their own already swollen wallets.

How would you respond if our politicians decided to make ad-skipping illegal her in NZ? Is 15 months too much for simply flogging a fist-full of pirated DVDs? Have you ever copied a disc you'd never dream of buying and do you feel guilty for having done so?

Have your say on today's column

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